Cora Sandel
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Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius (20 December 1880 – 3 April 1974), better known by her
pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
Cora Sandel, was a Norwegian writer and painter who lived most of her adult life abroad. Her best-known works are the novels now known as the ''Alberta Trilogy''.


Biography

Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius was born in
Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
(now
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
), Norway. Her parents were Jens Schow Fabricius (1839–1910) and Anna Margareta Greger (1858–1903). When she was 12 years old, her family moved to
Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...
, where her father was appointed a naval commander. They established their residence at a home rented from the local businessman
Johan Henrik Rye Holmboe Johan Henrik Rye Holmboe (28 November 1863 – 29 May 1933) was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. He was a city council member in Tromsø for 42 years, a three-term member of Parliament, Minister of ...
(1863–1933). Cora Sandel started painting under the tutelage of
Harriet Backer Harriet Backer (21 January 1845 – 25 March 1932) was a Norwegian painter who achieved recognition in her own time and was a pioneer among female artists both in the Nordic countries and in Europe generally. She is best known for her detailed ...
(1845–1932) and at 25 years of age moved to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to develop her artistic skills. She lived among the Scandinavian artist colony in Paris from 1906 to 1921. In 1913, she married the Swedish sculptor Anders Jönsson (1883–1965), with whom she had one child. In 1921, the family returned to
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, where the couple separated in 1922. Their divorce was finalized in 1926. During her years in Paris, Sandel helped support the family with short stories and sketches published in Norway. However, her first novel and first tome in the trilogy, ''Alberte and Jakob,'' was not published until 1926, when Sandel was 46 years of age. This began the semi-autobiographical Alberta trilogy. Sandel used many elements from her own life and experiences in her stories, which often centre on the spiritual and societal struggles of women marginalized by the strict confines of 19th century society. The Alberta trilogy traced the protagonist's emotional development juxtaposed with the men in her social circle: as a child, her brother Jacob, and lovers and fellow artists as a young woman in Paris. These novels earned her an immediate place in the Scandinavian canon, but it was not until the 1960s that Sandel, then living quietly in Sweden, was discovered by the English-speaking world. Despite her great literary success, she remained hidden behind her pseudonym and lived a rather secluded life. She lived in Sweden and only visited Norway periodically. She was decorated with the
Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
in 1957. She died in 1970 in
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
, Sweden. Mackgården, her former home in
Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...
, was built in 1838. It now houses the Perspektivet Museum, which was established in 1996 to consolidate the collections of Troms Folkemuseum and Tromsø bymuseum.


Selected works

* ''Alberte og Jakob'', novel ("Alberta and Jacob", 1926, tr. 1962) * ''En blå sofa'', short story collection ("A Blue Sofa", 1927) * ''Alberte og friheten'', novel ("Alberta and Freedom", 1931, tr. 1963) * ''Carmen og Maja'', short story collection ("Carmen and Maja", 1932) * ''Mange takk, doktor'', short story collection ("Many Thanks, Doctor", 1935) * ''Bare Alberte'', novel ("Alberta Alone", 1939, tr. 1965) * ''Dyr jeg har kjent'', short story collection ("Animals I've Known", 1945) * ''Kranes konditori'', novel ("Krane's Café", 1945–1946, tr. 1968) * ''Figurer på mørk bunn'', short story collection ("Figures on a dark background", 1949) * Translation of
Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
's ''La Vagabonde'' (1952) * ''Kjøp ikke Dondi'', novel ("Don't Buy Dondi", 1958, tr. 1960 as "The Leech") * ''Vårt vanskelige liv'', short story collection ("Our Difficult Life", 1960) * ''Barnet som elsket veier'', short story collection with artwork ("The Child Who Loved Roads", 1973)


Awards

*
Gyldendal's Endowment Gyldendal's Endowment was a literature prize which was awarded in the period 1934–1995 by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The prize was awarded to significant authors, regardless of which publisher the author was associated wi ...
for 1937


See also

* Sandel (disambiguation)


References


Further reading

* Øverland, Janneken ''Cora Sandel : en biografi'' (Gyldendal 1995) * Rees, Ellen ''Figurative Space in the Novels of Cora Sandel'' (Laksevåg: Alvheim & Eide, 2010)


External links


Perspektivet Museum website
*
Family genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandel, Cora 1880 births 1974 deaths People from Tromsø Writers from Oslo Riksmål-language writers Members of the Norwegian Academy Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in Sweden Norwegian women novelists Norwegian women short story writers 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian women painters 20th-century Norwegian women writers 20th-century Norwegian women artists 20th-century Norwegian short story writers 20th-century Norwegian novelists